Meiji began with the restoration of imperial rule in 1868 and ended with the emperor’s death on 30 July 1912 — forty-five years in which Japan went from a closed feudal state to an industrial power with a constitution, a parliament and a navy that defeated Russia. It was the first era under the one-reign-one-name rule, and the first whose name became the emperor’s own: he is Emperor Meiji, not Mutsuhito, in every Japanese history book. The Western calendar arrived in the middle of it, when 3 December Meiji 5 was followed by 1 January Meiji 6 — 1873.